Hat tricks
From David Gelber
Sir: While the classic trilby may certainly serve as a symbol of respect, it can also act as a powerful article of insult (‘Use your head’, 10 December). To remain covered in the presence of one’s betters is to challenge their pre-eminence. In the past, such pretensions could lead to the kind of affrays seen more commonly today among hooded adolescents. In 1536 a group of Lord Dacre’s gentlemen-retainers failed to doff their hats to Lord Clifford in the churchyard in Carlisle. Showing more sensitivity to their master’s honour than to the sanctity of their surroundings, Clifford’s men set themselves on Dacre’s. A pitched battle was fought, with both sides sustaining casualties. The Privy Council was even tually moved to intervene to settle the difference, meaning that government efforts to defuse militant millinery have precedents long before the present.
David Gelber London SW10
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